Chapter 14: Escape

The sight was enough to drive anyone to despair, yet Gu Wen couldn't help laughing. Under the circumstances, he had become the safest person there. Now that Blood Owl had turned on the others, no one present had any direct quarrel with him.

In that split second, Paper Hero had closed to within ten meters. Layers of paper gathered before him like phantom images, then blasted toward Blood Owl like a roaring tiger. Blood Owl sneered, held one hand like a blade, and casually swept it upward.

Paper Hero saw nothing. He merely felt his body being dragged off course against his will. A second later, the spot he had just occupied—or rather, the straight stretch of street directly in front of Blood Owl—split in two. A two-meter-wide fissure tore through the earth, extending nearly a kilometer ahead.

Only then did Paper Hero realize what had happened. Tea Immortal must have used his ability from a distance to pull him clear, reacting after Blood Owl but striking first. Otherwise, he would already have been torn to pieces.

“Hey, aren't you going back into the bookshop? If you keep standing beside me, killing all these people will be far too easy,” Blood Owl told Tian Yi.

All these sudden changes had taken place in little more than ten seconds, but Tian Yi had come up with a plan. He leaned toward Blood Owl's ear and whispered a few words, then stepped back and said in his normal voice, “Until we meet again.”

How could Mirror Face stand by after hearing that? He charged straight at Tian Yi, his cloak becoming a black blur as he sped forward like lightning. Tea Immortal watched in considerable surprise. This man was clearly faster than he was. Who on earth was he?

But the surprises were only beginning. As that shadow passed Blood Owl, a punch caught it. Mirror Face went flying backward into the sky, and even crashing through the outer wall of a high-rise failed to stop him.

It was like a batter getting ready to swing, only to discover that the incoming ball was a cannonball traveling at close to the speed of sound. Just as the spectators were about to gasp at the speed of the pitch, the guy went ahead and knocked it out of the park as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Impossible! Paper Hero cried inwardly. By his rough reckoning, Blood Owl was powerful, but he couldn't possibly be this powerful. If this was his true fighting strength, had he used only twenty percent of it in Venice?

Tian Yi didn't so much as blink, showing no surprise at what had happened. He turned and pointed rudely at Gu Wen. “You. Get inside.”

“What's the matter?” Gu Wen said. “I wanted to stay a little longer and meet this Gambling Snake. Don't we need him for the next stage of the plan?” Despite his words, he walked into the bookshop at an unhurried pace. His good sense told him that whatever he might say, some instructions were best obeyed.

Tian Yi then addressed Gunsmith, who had frozen in fright the moment he stepped outside. “Hey, your shoelace is untied.”

“Oh,” Gunsmith said. The moment he lowered his head, Tian Yi kicked him in the waist, sending him rolling through the doorway.

Then Tian Yi went into the bookshop himself and shut the door.

Tea Immortal could no longer stand by. He guessed that Tian Yi was about to flee. From past experience and his own deductions, he was ninety-nine percent certain that the bookshop could relocate. He couldn't let Tian Yi escape right before his eyes.

“Trying to run…? Dream on…” For the first time, Tea Immortal looked utterly serious. He intended to use his ability to destroy the building Tian Yi was in outright.

He had barely raised his hand when Mirror Face's hoarse voice called out, “Wait.” Once again, Mirror Face leaped down from above and blocked his way.

“I thought we had a common enemy.” Tea Immortal looked straight at the man before him, but could see only his own face in the mirrored mask.

“Molecular Influence abilities can't destroy that bookshop. Let me,” Mirror Face replied. As he spoke, an upside-down image of Tian Yi's bookshop appeared above it, identical to the shop itself, as though reflected in an invisible mirror in the air.

A short sword flew from Mirror Face's sleeve and struck the translucent image. It seemed to pierce a surface of water, sending ripples across it. “That will stop him relocating for the time being.” Without turning, he spoke in his hoarse, cracked voice, loudly enough for everyone present to hear. “I'm not particularly keen to work with HL, but since we share a target at the moment, the four of us might as well join forces for now and fight this monster.”

“Four?” Tea Immortal asked.

“So you've counted me in without asking.” A man in a black suit appeared on the roof of a building opposite the bookshop. He had slicked-back hair and wore sunglasses, his expression cold and grim. …

Gambling Snake jumped down into the street. “I only came to meet Tian Yi in person. I have no intention of either hindering or helping your revenge,” he told Mirror Face. “The three of you can handle that fellow together. I'm merely a Strong-rank ability user. A battle at this level…” He looked at the street Blood Owl had destroyed. The marks on the ground alone made it clear that the man had done it with a single blow. “I'd have trouble getting involved.”

“It makes no difference whether someone of unknown origins joins in,” Paper Hero said. “I never needed help anyway. I'll deal with Blood Owl my—”

“Enough, you scum,” Blood Owl interrupted. “Get on with it.”

At those words, the storm of shredded paper circling overhead became countless blades that hurtled at Blood Owl like a volley of arrows aimed at his heart. The attack left no gaps, nowhere to dodge.

Blood Owl didn't dodge. He stood where he was and let more than a hundred bloody cuts open across his body. The paper blades could gouge the asphalt when they struck it, yet they couldn't seriously injure him. He seemed to have skin of bronze and bones of iron. Blood streamed over him, but the wounds were only superficial.

When the “paper rain” had more or less run its course, Blood Owl calmly put a cigar between his teeth, lit it, and exhaled a mouthful of smoke. He wasn't the least bit worried about being defeated. The city was densely populated, and the four men before him had far greater mental power than ordinary people. Even without the support of Tian Yi's sinful soul, an outrage to gods and men alike, he was powerful enough.

Paper Hero had still not given in to despair. He had to fight. Only by fighting could he grow stronger, and only the strong could see their justice through.

To quote a certain fat man's classic line, “Once you give up, the game's over.”

Life works much the same way.

Yet there's no denying that, most of the time, miracles don't happen, and despair does come.

The bookshop door opened again. Mirror Face had just called Blood Owl a monster, but this time a real monster came out. A black humanoid creature emerged from the shop, its eyes shining blue-green, its black skin like plastic or rubber.

Without a word, ignoring everyone, he raised his arm and sprayed a mass of ink-like black liquid from his palm. It smeared the reflected image above the bookshop, making it indistinct.

Mirror Face knew something had gone wrong, but it was already too late. The whole bookshop had begun to sink, rapidly entering another space. Viewed directly from above, the building was shaped like an inverted cross. Once the entire structure sank into that inverted-cross imprint, it would be transported elsewhere.

Tea Immortal hurriedly took several steps through empty air and rode the wind upward. From high above, he raised his hand toward the bookshop and unleashed three or four fierce blasts of wind. The ground and neighboring buildings around the inverted-cross foundation crumbled like rotten wood, leaving a deep depression in the earth. Only the bookshop and the earth beneath it remained unaffected.

Blood Owl took a few more puffs and stubbed out his cigar. “Aren't you going with them?” he asked Darkwater.

“I have my own way of leaving,” Darkwater replied.

Blood Owl snorted. “Whoever you are, get the hell out of here. You're an eyesore.”

Darkwater had never intended to stay. His task was to cover the Transmitter's departure. Now that he had accomplished it, he only needed to meet up with him elsewhere.

Since he had no emotions, Darkwater wouldn't get angry even if someone spent six months or a year insulting him in every way imaginable. To him, Blood Owl's words were simply a request that happened to coincide with his own objective. He turned and took to his heels, running with a sprinter's form and a sprinter's speed. As for his endurance, that was harder to say. It might well be limitless…

Seeing that everyone who wanted to run had run, and everyone who wanted to stay had stayed, Tea Immortal could only resign himself to it. He returned to the ground. “Whew… All right. Whatever else happens, there's still one madman here who has to be caught. Whether I capture you or kill you, you won't be leaving.” He turned to Mirror Face. “Are you still willing to help?”

“Tian Yi's enemies are my friends,” Mirror Face replied. “As for his friends, I don't mind killing a few more of them.”

“Well then, I'll leave you all to your battle. Farewell,” Gambling Snake said. By the time his voice reached them, he was already gone. Since he hadn't managed to meet Tian Yi, he saw no reason to get further embroiled in this mess.

Blood Owl tossed his cigar to the ground and thought, What a nuisance. They've finally all gone. Now… I can cut loose.